“A head-spinning seven-minute compilation of joy, pain and harsh fact” is how the New York Times described Arthur Jafa’s Love Is the Message, the Message Is Death, a video work by artist, director, and award-winning cinematographer Arthur Jafa which first premiered in 2017 and receives its Irish debut in partnership with the Form Foundation.
Set to the searing highs and lows of Kanye West’s gospel-inspired hip-hop track, Ultralight Beam, it is a masterful convergence of found footage that traces African-American identity through a vast spectrum of contemporary imagery.
From photographs of civil rights leaders watermarked with “Getty Images” to helicopter views of the LA Riots to a wave of bodies dancing to ‘The Dougie,’ it suspends viewers in a swelling, emotional montage.
Wed – Sun, Gallery closed Monday and Tuesday. See their website for further details.
Douglas Hyde Gallery until November 6.
